Telstra chief executive David Thodey says a change to the Coalition’s version of the national broadband network could be a positive for his company.

Speaking to journalists in Sydney at an investor day on Thursday, Mr Thodey said the Coalition’s publicly stated alternative to Labor’s $36 billion NBN could result in his shareholders getting more money faster.

The comments are significant because Telstra’s cooperation has been a key point of contention between Communications Minister Stephen Conroy and coalition spokesman Malcolm Turnbull.

While Mr Conroy has long claimed the Coalition would struggle to sign a deal with Telstra, Mr Turnbull has publicly stated that Telstra could be lured to the negotiation table with promises of faster payments – a line echoed today by Mr Thodey.

NBN Co recently finalised an $11 billion deal with Telstra to get access to the telco’s equipment and copper. For every customer it takes off the network and migrates to fibre, Telstra receives a set amount of money.

The chief executive said more details about the coalition’s plans were needed but that on currently available information “if anything it’s advantageous" to shareholders.

Mr Thodey described fibre to the home as “the ultimate solution" but said the fibre to the node solution favoured by the Coalition cost less and was faster to deploy.

Mr Thodey added that because Telstra had a locked-in contract, changing to a coalition government would not be a major negative even though fresh negotiations would be required.